When will PCI-E prices drop?

[mogadishu]

With the arrival of battlefield 2, I need to upgrade my radeon x300. Im looking at the Geforce 6800GT or the Radeon x800/x850. I've heard that there will be a new generation of graphics cards soon and this will lead to a drop in the price of these PCI-E cards. When can I expect this because I really dont want to pay 250-350 for a new VC. Can I reasonably expect the prices to fall below 200 with a month or two? Thanks

[clocker]

When can I expect this because I really dont want to pay 250-350 for a new VC. Can I reasonably expect the prices to fall below 200 with a month or two? Thanks

A month or two?
No.

Six months to a year might see them in the $200-250 range.

[mogadishu]

I can buy a radeon x800 for under 200@newegg.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125171
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102561

are these cards bad or what? why such a price diff between this and the nvidia geforce 6800?

[Snee]

It really depends on what kind of speeds the cards run at.

You've got the 6800LE, the 6800, the 6800GT and the 6800Ultra in the 6800 range, among the x800s you've got the x800SE, the x800, the x800XL, the x800 pro and the x800XT, and there's also the x850PE or something.

For example a 6800LE isn't going to cost that much, whereas an x850 something is going to cost a lot, you have to compare clock frequencies and types of memory to see how good a card will be (obviously you can't compare an x800 to a 6800 that way straight off, but there are tests that show how well they compare and you can work from that), really.

The ones you've picked are plain x800s which'll make them decent, but not exceptional performers. For say performances at the 6800Ultra level you'd need an XT. GDDR3 is good tho'.

[volskid2002]

the 6800 series of videocards have the new pixal shader 3.0, whereas all ati cards below the x850xt lacks the pixal shader 3.0